The White House said Wednesday that President Biden has not been briefed on any part of the Justice Department’s criminal investigation of former President Donald Trump, including the shocking photos of classified documents piled up on the floor at Mar-a-Lago.
“The president has not been briefed on the latest development,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. “He has not been briefed on anything that’s connected to this particular investigation, which is an independent investigation.”
Earlier, a stunning Justice Department court filing included photos of at least five sets of papers laid strewn across a carpet with some specifically marked “Top Secret/SCI,” a reference to sensitive compartmented information. The two designations are the federal government’s highest classification level.
The filing accused Mr. Trump of concealing and removing classified documents from his Florida residence in violation of a grand jury subpoena.
The Justice Department lawyers made the claims in response to Mr. Trump’s lawsuit asking a federal judge to appoint a “special master” to review documents seized in the Aug. 8 raid of his residence and office at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. The lawyers wanted the special master to determine what files were protected by attorney-climate privilege and return the protected materials to Mr. Trump.
Prosecutors also said Mr. Trump was not cooperative and acted to obstruct the investigation into whether he mishandled classified government documents.
“The government also developed evidence that government records were likely concealed and removed from the storage room and that efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government’s investigation,” Justice Department lawyers wrote.
Mr. Biden has insisted that he has been kept out of the loop on the Trump investigation and had no advance notice of the Mar-a-Lago search.
“I didn’t have any advance notice. None. Zero. Not one single bit,” he said last week of the raid.
A letter released last week revealed that Mr. Biden ordered the National Archives to share with the Justice Department all materials it requested from Mr. Trump, suggesting that the president was at least aware of the probe.
It doesn’t explicitly say, however, that Mr. Biden knew in advance about the Mar-a-Lago raid.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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